Nashville Predators 3, St. Louis Blues 4: Blues Swipe the Central

Remember when I said the Predators and Blues would be playing meaningful games throughout the season? Not even a week later, both teams were battle for first place in the Central division.

Nashville was playing catch up all night, as St. Louis found themselves ahead 2-0 in the first period. The Preds were able to tie the game one two separate occasions, but falling behind so many times took its toll. Paul Stastny notched the game winner, and the Blues took a thriller of a game and regained the division lead.

Random Observations

• Like Paul Stastny before him, T.J. Oshie made his grand return from injury against the Preds, and he didn’t waste any time getting on the board.
• It’s not often a puck hits the crossbar, and two minutes later everyone finds out that the puck actually went in. Lo and behold, that’s how Carl Gunnarsson found himself with his first goal of the year. A blast from the point went post to post, and juuuuuust made it over the goal line. It looked like it was going to be one of those games…
• But if you hadn’t heard, this ain’t the team you’re used to. Just because he wanted to, Filip Forsberg scored (technically) about 40 seconds after the Blues went up by two. This kid, man. The Prince ended the night with three points, and now has 20 on the year. He’s also gone six straight games with a goal, which is tied for the most in franchise history with Patric Hornqvist, Alex Radulov and J.P. Dumont. Seriously, this kid.
• His skill was on display again when he waltzed through the Blues defense to set up Shea Weber for a monster shot to tie the game at two apiece.
• Who would have guessed that Vladamir Tarasenko and Ryan Ellis would fight each other?
• There was a ton of animosity out on the ice, and that’s a good thing. It didn’t quite feel like a playoff game, but it was damn close.
• You may have felt deflated when Tarasenko gave the Blues a 3-2 lead late in the second period. You also may have rolled your eyes when the Preds took to the power play even later in the second period. Like I said, this ain’t the team you’re used to. With .04 (!) seconds left before the teams retreated to the locker room, Roman Josi tied the game with a shot through traffic. I mean, this freaking team.
• The Predators allowed four goals tonight for only the second time this season.
• This game literally went down to the final seconds. Nashville held control of the puck for almost the entirety of their empty net attack, and were so close to sending the game to overtime. Unfortunately, Jake Allen made a stop on Forsberg that even he wasn’t sure he got. Game, set, match.

Ultimately, it’s really hard to be upset with this game. Sure, the Preds lost and there were a few miscues along the way, but in mid-November a team that wasn’t supposed to compete for a playoff spot is going shot for shot with a team expected to do damage in the playoffs.

I hate talking about moral victories, especially after trying to scrape so many of them together last year. However, if the Predators play like this against teams most nights, they’re going to win a lot of games. The Blues are a very good team and the Predators have showed in two games against them that they are right there with them.

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game

• Filip Forsberg – We haven’t chiseled his name in stone here yet, but we really should.
• Stu Grimson – For announcing #PrinceFilip on air. Muahahahaha./

OTF’s Super Un-Duper Star of the Game

• Afro Person – YO DUDE. YOUR DO IS RUINING MY VISUAL EXPERIENCE./

Tweets of the Game

Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – War-on-Ice – HockeyStats – Natural Stat Trick

Roll the video highlights…